Thoresen Facing Possible Surgery

Philadelphia left wing Patrick Thoresen suffered a ruptured testicle in the third period of tonight's 5-4 Caps' victory when he was struck by Mike Green's power play slap shot.

Thoresen went down and stayed down, effectively giving the Caps a two-man advantage. Green scored moments later as Thoresen writhed on the ice in pain. After the game, Philadelphia General Manager Paul Holmgren said Thoresen was en route to the hospital and was facing possible surgery.

You could see him holding his midsection in the replay. I can't remember what it looked like at full speed but one thing is for sure, if the puck was in the Flyer's control, they wouldn't have stopped play either. What a shot by Green and a great win for the Caps to start this postseason.

Sure hope Thoresen does okay. Guys, I was surprised the refs let the Caps continue play as long as they did. I know the Caps had the puck, but wasn't it apparent that this injury was serious? If Phila complains they have a right to. (then again, it is Phila.....)

JMU:
LOL! :-) Sorry, but I can't relate. I feel sorry for the guy (we were still wincing when we were clapping for the goal), but I can't imagine the pain that he was feeling and, frankly, don't want to (not because I am being cold, but because I am now wincing just thinking about it - ouch!). So I need to move on another subject ... no disrespect intended!

When I went to get my red #91, I found out that they couldn't do the letter "R" on adult jerseys... I don't know, maybe they ran out of "R's". Pissed me off to no end as I'm happy with my white #52, but I'm wearing a blank red jersey and feeling like a dumb a@@. So anyway, I changed gears and decided that I'd be happy with #25 in red. But the stand in section 104 says "we're too busy, come back later".

So, I changed gears again. I'm happy with #52 in white, I'm getting #52 in red. I just have to make sure that "R's" are back in stock on Sunday...

Steve:
You have got to be kidding me?!? How on earth do they run out of Rs?!? Poor guy ... you couldn't even have picked a random # and use the name Steve R.!! ;-) Well that's a bummer - sorry to hear it. But hey, maybe 52 is your lucky #?!? If so, are ya gonna rock the hawk?!? :-D

I hope you are joking. There is nothing for the Flyers to complain about there. You don't automatically assume that somebody ruptured a testicle when somebody blocks a shot. How often do we see somebody go down to block a shot and lay there for a few moments before limping off, then coming back a few minutes later. I feel bad for him, but....thats not how you slide to block a shot... best of luck in recovery to him. Does anybody think that Downie will replace him in the lineup, the little thug.

I cheered when he went down. Do i feel bad about that now? Well, i thought it was Briere and I think I was really cheering karma. I guess that, since its a team sport, Thoresen paid for Briere's generally ball-less play.

2 Goals and 1 Ruptured Nut. We'll have to name that the Greenie Hat Trick!! :)

In all seriousness though I feel for the young man. You never think of something like this happening, but it just goes to show you that anything is possible...just like skate blades to the neck. I hope the surgery is successful and he recovers fully.

johnny:
Speaking of, did you notice how when Green was down on his back late in the game and he was covering his face with his glove(s)? There were skate blades all around his face - he was lucky he did not get sliced!

Forsberg aint enough. But If Hejduk goes back into symbiosis with Forsberg, and you add Sakic, an experienced if not stellar defense, a decent crew of grinders and inspired goaltending they can maybe get by the Wild. I've got the Wild to win.

GUYS! WHAT THE F*CK? Seriously, lets show some class, Thoresen got hurt tonight in a way that would only wish on your worst enemy! We're all Caps Fans, yes this is known, but aren't we all fans of hockey? C'mon, we're better than that.

The perils of Stanley Cup playoff hockey were on agonizing display Friday when Philadelphia Flyers left winger Patrick Thoresen slid in front of a slap shot.

Thoreson went down to block a slap shot by Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green with the Flyers clinging to a one-goal lead early in the third period. The puck struck Thoresen between the legs with such force that after the game he was taken to a Washington hospital Center.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said Thoreson might need to have a testicle removed.

"Right now we're not sure how serious it is," Holmgren said after the Flyers blew a two-goal lead en route to a crushing 5-4 defeat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. "But he may need surgery. There is a chance they may have to remove one."

Thoresen's injury and the referees' decision to allow play to continue while he rolled around in pain on the ice overshadowed the stinging loss.

Green scored the game-tying goal while Thoresen was curled up in a fetal position.

"I don't know where you cross the line," Holmgren said. "It isn't like he was hit in the face."

When a player is injured on the ice, it is the referees' discretion over when to blow the whistle to stop play. In most circumstances, referees wait until the defending team gains possession of the puck.

"Clearly, the guy's in pain," Flyers left winger Riley Cote said. "It's almost like salt in the wounds. The poor guy is laying his life on the line for the boys. I knew he was hurt. It's a tough call for the refs, but it was obvious to me he wasn't just crying wolf."

While the Capitals piled on top of Green at center ice, Flyers teammates helped Thoresen off the ice. When Thoreson was brought to the trainer's room, Holmgren said there was enough swelling in the groin area to warrant a trip to the hospital.

They'll lose because, despite their previous success, they are older and have a faceless defensive core. Theodore has played well so far but its Minnesota's time. The overtime win reinforces their belief. Either way, lets say that Colorado pulls it off and Theodore becomes un-Theodore like. They then have to face more dominant teams, like the Wings or the Sharks or the Ducks, teams with much better defense, much better offense and far better goaltending.
Forsberg aint enough.

watched the whole game and in this situation knew the guy was hurt, but had no idea it was/is that bad. My thoughts& prayers to him and his family.
These are warriors on the ice and I hope he turns out well. Our thoughts/prayers are with him and his familly.
-caps fan

Man that is terrible. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. I hope the guy is ok and doesn't have to have anything removed.

I don't think there should be any controversy about the goal though. The refs should only blow the whistle if a player is in immediate danger (like a goalie losing his mask) of if there is clear evidence of an injury (blood). As one who blocks shots in an adult league, I just assumed the guy had a "stinger". Now....I may be the guy who USED to block shots. Ouch.

@828

saw you on the jumbotron in the Ultimate Weagle get up. Keep it up for Sunday bro.

I didnt expect that much of a cheer with my sign... but Ill take it. My friend said I was on VS... during the highlights... I love it... I will def bring the sign on Sunday and the face paint. I think both turned out okay - got a lot of complements... you all need to say whats up when you see me.
Did anyone see me banging on the glass with the sign after Alex scored???
Such a great game... we need to go 2-0 before we hit philly.
Nice rush for a Friday night!!!

I had to read that post twice... Flyer or not, hope Thoresen gets well soon and avoids surgery.

Briere and his slashing, spearing, & high sticking can die in a fire though. He's like Semin with a bad attitude (possibly enhanced by the team around him). Though as long as he's going to the box for it, it won't bother me so much...

ESPN still singing Cindy's praises even after a no point performance Wednesday and a 4 secondary assist night. One secondary assist on an empty net goal and Gonchar's was a tertiary assist.

Sid - Gonchar (holds the puck) - Malkin - Gonchar

I'm sorry, but stop talking about Sid. If you have to talk about the Pens, talk Malkin. Malkin had three primary assists on pretty goals, but he got shafted because of Golden Boy (Sid's on ESPN's NHL frontpage 4 times - not one Malkin). Sid's a Mark Messier (i.e. a great player & leader), but he's not Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux.

Maybe he's more important in locker room, but I'm just sick of Sid getting talked about when he's playing a minor role in Pittsburgh on the score sheet.

Don't know if this has been covered but in today's Philadelphia Inquirer a columnist wrote the following:

"Let the record show that the Verizon Center fans - who discovered ice hockey about the time Ovechkin started putting up crazy numbers - cheered as Thoresen writhed in pain on the ice. No doubt the national media will be as harsh on the Washington fans as they would be if the same thing had happened in Philadelphia.

Let's wait and see how serious the injury is. My guess is no surgery and back on the ice next game. They are sour grapes about getting beat and are looking for any edge to gain with the refs. Every NHL player and coach knows there's no whistle unless it's life threatening. And no matter how hard a player gets hit in the nuts its not life threatening (was he not wearing a cup?) Only shots into the chest, throat, and head area will warrant a whistle. Get over it Philly you have a beast at your doorstep.

I love this Fedorov quote about Ovechkin:"It's not easy: so much talk about everything and such a great season," Fedorov said. "Playoffs is a little different. I'm actually surprised -- really amazed -- that he kept himself so together, so cool in the final moments of the game."

Sometimes we forget is only 22 years old. TWENTY-FRIGGIN-TWO! Can you imagine all the pressure, the media, the fans - no wonder he was a bit flat in the first two periods (that and Philly was very good at containing him).

Ow. I thought that's where he got hit when I saw it (I sit end boards on the far end, so I had a good look at the shot.) But, when he limped off, I thought maybe it was a knee or something. That's really awful. I hope that's something that's fixable. Its just a game.

Having been a hockey fan for almost 50 years, I have always been in awe of the skills and courage these men display for my enjoyment. In my opinion, they are unequaled in the world of sports. It is with an equal level of disbelief that I read some of the comments about the injured Flyer Thoresen.

I want my team to win as much as the next guy. Especially when that other team is from Philadelphia. But to treat his misfortune with such base ignorance and disrespect makes me somewhat ashamed to be a Caps fan this morning.

I don't think people were cheering his injury - they were yelling for the Caps to shoot and then celebrating the goal. No one knew how bad his injury was, and everyone was concerned when he never got up on his own. All I heard around me was, "I hope he's OK." I think it was just bad timing - if there had been no goal and they had blown the whistle to tend to him, folks probably would have cheered when they helped him off the ice. Instead they were still cheering the goal when he was helped off the ice (which could have been misconstrued as everyone cheering for the injury). Unfortunately, there will always be people who applaude an injury (ex: those who said horrible things about Syd when he was hurt). Fortunately, that seems to be the exception and not the rule.

Boo! Thank you so much! I got it and it is now proudly displayed on my desk. My kid will have to wait.

It's a shame that Thorenson got hurt, much less in the way he did. I can't imagine that kin of pain. However, if he is a REAL hockey player, he'll get the surgery tonight, and be on the ice tomorrow.

Did anyone notice how awful the ice was last night? 5 minutes into the thrid, I could still see pools of water while watching on TV. I wonder how much a dehumidifier is, and maybe we could raise the money.

Hopefully the nerves are all shaken out and tomorrow goes a little smoother.

Having been at both the Theismann broken leg game and last night, I can say that Joe's injury was more initially stomach-turning because you could see what happened on the replay. Like most people, I just thought Thoresen had a stinger off the ankle or something like that. However, as a male who is quite attached to my testicles, Thoresen's injury makes any other sports injury pale in comparison - except maybe Malarchuk's throat slash. Zednik's would have been pretty bad if he hadn't covered it up right away with his glove, so it doesn't quite equate with Malarchuk's.

@Sombrero Guy - caught you on the big screen last night, too, unless someone was masquerading as you.

Congrats Caps - Great comeback - I hope Thoresen is OK. I am guessing that the people who are laughing at him probably never played this or any game and don't understand the respect that athletes have for each other. But just because you were picked last in kickball in the 3rd grade is no reason to be a moron.

I just saw the replay on NHLnetwork, Fans weren't cheering the injury. We knew that it was a 5 on 3 with the injured player on the ice and WE had the puck. If we had the puck in the neutral ice, this would be a different story.

This is philthy fans fishing for something to piss them off (like they need anything to do that).

Has anyone seen an answer to whether he was wearing a cup? Some players do and some don't. I know (the hard way) that most are made of plastic and can crack or shatter -- but I'd still be surprised to see such a level of injury if he had one on.

"Let the record show that the Verizon Center fans - who discovered ice hockey about the time Ovechkin started putting up crazy numbers - cheered as Thoresen writhed in pain on the ice. No doubt the national media will be as harsh on the Washington fans as they would be if the same thing had happened in Philadelphia."

At least some Philly writers are sane. This is my favorite passage about last night. From Phil Sheridan of the Inquirer

" And then, in a ridiculous flash, Ovechkin single-handedly won Game 1 of this first-round playoff series by undressing three professional hockey players in one brazen motion.

The third of those victims was Biron, although Ovechkin got to the goaltender only by skating through a puddle where defenseman Lasse Kukkonen had been a moment before.

It was an astonishing, singular effort by Ovechkin. He took a routine play - Kukkonen was making a pass to partner Jaroslav Modry that you see 100 times a game - and turned it into a game- and maybe series-changing goal."

Steve:
How about confusing people by putting a big letter on your back (other than R, of course) and skipping the numbers?!? ;-)

I can't decide what bums me out more about the Inquirer column - the fact that they think we were cheering the injury or the fact that they think we didn't know what hockey was before Ovie. Not cool; no respect, I tell ya.

Although, I do have to say that many of the Caps fans were BRUTAL to the Flyers fans in attendance. We really have no room to talk about how poorly other fans treat us ...

I was there; there was plenty of "cheering" before the goal but they were pleas to shoot the puck. We were on the power play, a whistle would've come with any let down in play, and it was effectively a 5 on 3.

With some of these sports injurys it seems like we're getting a little too much info. Thoresen with a ruptured testicle, and I remember seeing on ESPN's sports crawl, "Kaz Matsui will miss the first couple of weeks of the season due to surgury to repair anal fissures".

I'm no fan of Danielle either, but I actually thought he looked really good. At one point during the third he was behind the net with the puck and about 3 of us kept yelling "No, no, no. You can't let him stay there with the puck." We may hate him, but he is very dangerous.

The right call was made to not stop the play. If the refs start stopping it in those situations (where there is no blood nor clear and present danger) it sets a bad precedent: every time a guy gets out of position while blocking a shot he can just drop to the ice and pretend to be hurt, leave the ice for a bit then come back- its a slippery slope.

That said, i feel for this guy- and any one who gets hurt, not matter if it give the caps a crucial goal. I would not want the goal erased or something, but would not cheer for him to get hurt, or make joke about it. No matter which team he plays for he is still a human. Cheering for him to get hurt is the same as cheering for a man who gets hurt because he is black, asian, jewish, muslim, etc. it is discrimination- the suspension of universal standard because of someone personal disposition towards one group over another- and it is wrong. Period.

Get well Thoresen- remember, Lance Armstrong only has one Testicle too

Jschon:
Are you talking to me? If so, all I know is what my guide tells me! :-) I am actually watching it now - it's the Pens game (but my guide still says Caps ... go figure).

old time hockey:
Briere is dangerous literally and figuratively - he not only scores, but also takes cheap shots. That's why I don't like him. I respect his skill but have no tolerance for dirty players.

So is it wrong then that I laughed when a philly fan came up the stairs in front of us carrying two beers (while the puck was in play and therefore blocking our view) and subsequently stumbled, bit the concrete and splashed both beers in his face?

I know I know, losing beer is a serious matter but my god that was hilarious!

I played about 1,000 hockey games -- including one without a cup. I had washed the cup-holding jock after the previous game and forgot to put them back into my hockey bag.

When I noticed the omission while suiting up in the dressing room, I considered (for about one second) skipping the game. After my first shift, I stopped worrying about a stick or puck in an unfortunate spot.

Don't expect Flyer's fans to be sending flowers and get well soon cards if any of our players get hurt. But to clarify, Caps fans were cheering the fact that he was out of the play giving us a 2 man advantage, not the fact the he was injured. That's what separates us from classless Philadelphia fans.

I have to wonder if that Philly Inquirer columnist was even at the game. We didn't start cheering when Thoresen went down, we'd been screaming our bloody brains out for the entire power play, and the place went nuclear when Green scored.

Also, I liked the whining about how Philly fans are held to a different standard. Of course you are, you had a JAIL underneath your football stadium. You threw BATTERIES at J.D. Drew. You had a fan fall into the penalty box and try to fight Tie Domi. And let's not even start on the litany of incidents surrounding the Flyers teams of the '70s. So yes, I think the average Philadelphia sports fan warrants a tad bit more scrutiny than normal, because the average Philadelphia fan is borderline psychotic.